Heavenly Hand-holding

I hold you by your right hand—I, the LORD your God. And I say to you, “Don’t be afraid. I am here to help you.”

Isaiah 41:13

Please tell me that you’re like me: sometime when you were in your teens, if you went to a movie with a boy you liked, you strategically placed your hand so that it was available . . . just in case he wanted to hold your hand as much as you wanted him to.

Holding hands can conjure up some of the sweetest memories as well as some of the most bittersweet ones, like holding the hand of a dying family member. I once received a wedding thank-you note from Sweet Meredyth with a photo from her wedding on the front. The image on the back of the note showed the couple with their backs to the camera, holding hands. It was so beautiful and so sweet!

Years ago, I had an enlargement made of a photo of my daddy’s hand holding the hand of his only grandson—baby Elias, the son of my sister, Shawn, and her husband, Chuck. Seeing this tiny hand in Daddy’s strong hand reminds me that God is holding my hand.

God gives it to us straight in Isaiah 41:13: He, the Lord our God, is holding our hand through life—all of life, the bitter as well as the sweet. Through whatever we deem as impossible, God still holds our hand! We don’t have to physically feel His hand clasped around ours. We rest knowing that He never lets go of us, even when we may try to shake off His grasp so we can wander off our own way.

And there’s more . . . there is always more with God! Because He always holds on to us, we are never alone and do not need to fear.

His words “Don’t be afraid. I am here to help you” never grow stale and distant.

Hold tight to the truth of God’s heavenly hand-holding every day. Read Daniel 10:1-12 to see a firsthand account of how God’s hand was on this obedient man.